In their last two end-game situations, the Mavericks went light on Dirk
Nowitzki and heavy on Monta Ellis.

The move worked in a win at Portland. It failed in a loss at Golden State on
Wednesday.

There were no objections from Nowitzki, who has been the club’s prime option
in these situations for a decade. There is enough room for both in pressure
situations, he indicated.

“We roll with Monta,” Nowitzki said. “He’s been great for us in the
clutch.”

These two performances showed Ellis can develop tunnel vision when the game
is on the line. He put each game into his hands and none others. The two-man
game is not supposed to work that way.

At Portland, Ellis took four of the Mavericks’ five shots in the final two
minutes, with the other chance going to Nowitzki. Ellis gave Portland the chance
it needed to tie with a late turnover but recovered to throw in a jumper at the
buzzer for the win.

At Golden State, Ellis handled the ball in two consecutive possessions in the
final minute.

He was fouled on a drive and made one of two free throws and missed a
step-back jumper from the right side of the free throw line with 23.8 seconds
remaining in a game tied at 93. Stephen Curry responded with a 19-foot jumper
with 1.5 seconds remaining for the win, at 95-93.

“Just didn’t go down,” Ellis said of his shots.

Nowitzki had one shot and one turnover in the final four minutes. He
supported Ellis, saying the jumper looked good and “he’s been making that all
year long.”

Ellis leads the club in scoring at 25 points per game and has a .470 shooting
percentage, which would be his best for a full season since 2007-08 with Golden
State. In two recent noteworthy defeats, he has accelerated the slide rather
than find a way to stop it.

In the loss at Golden State, the Mavericks had their biggest squandered lead
of the season at 18 points. On Nov. 29 at Atlanta, the Mavericks lost after
going up by 17 points. In each case, the Mavericks had their biggest lead of the
game with three minutes remaining in the first half.

Against Atlanta, Ellis went 2-for-10 with five turnovers after the Mavericks
built the 17-point lead. Nowitzki went 3-for-7 in that span.

Against the Warriors, Ellis was 4-for-13 for the final 27 minutes of play.
Nowitzki went 2-for-6 in that span.

Ellis was undaunted in the face of the loss. He vowed not to pull back.

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